The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944

Really Great Book

My dad rarely spoke about his experiences with the 36th Division in Salerno and Anzio, so I bought this book hoping to gain some insight. Now I know why he tried to forget the horrors he witnessed. This is a most authentic account of the personalities involved in both running a war as well as the actual fighting.

4 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

Passionate history disappoints in style and tone

Authoritative and mountainous work on the 608 day campaign to liberate Italy during World War II, that would cost the Allies 312,000 casualities. The complex, controversial, bloody military campaign in Sicily and Italy is covered in Volume 2 of Rick Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy with mixed results for this reader. Atkinson does a tremendous job with military tactics, units, jargon, and intimate portraits of the central participants in the tragic and savage fight for Italy, that would cost American troops 120,000 casualities including 23,501 killed. His writing style lacks clarity and focus, however, and often times I felt his shifting attention caused a disjointed effect. I was given a more concise, succinct, and clearer description of the Italian campaign in the 12 pages of my copy of the Time-Life History of WWII, with a forward by Eric Sevaried' who Atkinson quotes frequently in this book,than in the entire 588 page tome here by Atkinson. I am someone who was able to give a complete oral history of the events leading up to, through, and following WWII, by the time I was 10 years old, and as such, I consider myself an expert on the war. Having read every book imaginable on the WWII, this book's style and tone disturbed me. Atkinson tries too hard to be poetic in his writing, which causes a strained effect for the reader, and he writes a very unflattering portrait of the Allies, and often seems to admire the Germans which is strangely bizarre. It's great to present a warts and all portrayal of history from all vantage points, but Atkinson plays up Allied mistakes and atrocities, plays down the German ones, with the exception of the Rome massacre, and seems to be following an agenda of somehow equating the Germans and Allies on the same moral plain. As someone who knows the war so well, most of this book is old news to me and a re-hash of events I learned about in the 1970's, and Atkinson conveniently leaves out facts such as the secret negotiations for the surrender of Kesselring's German army that began after the fall of Rome, but were hamstrung by the protests of the Russians, and the last crushing attacks by the Allies that ended the war in April 1945. Atkinson loves to make dubious assertions of opinion, and drone on and on about Allied mistakes, faults, and tragedy, and then he'll write so many times 'but with all this the Allies were able to overcome the Germans', and then never describes how the Allies were able to obtain victory through these tough struggles. Historians like Atkinson are trying to foist a new history of the war onto young audiences unfamiliar with WWII. Those of us well-versed in the history of WWII will not allow this revisionist history of WWII to go unchallenged.

2 out of 9 people found this review helpful.

Proud to State My Name, LoCicero (My father was wounded at Anzio)

I certainly do not agree with Mr Anonymous below and his negative review of this book and its author. His bragging of being an expert in the subject just belies the ignorance in his words. The only experts in war are those that have served and those that have died in that service. I don't believe Mr Anonymous is either.

Here we have the full panoply of bloody modern warfare, usually not
glorious and often with much pathos. We are with the Allied troops as they land in Sicily, most by amphibious, some by air drop. The fighting is detailed in all its minutiae with the main command characters profiled and followed in their decisions and interpersonal communications. The author makes all this very interesting and places the characters within the socio-politico spheres of the time. From Sicily the next location the Allies strike toward is mainland Italy. The Brits move in one direction and the Americans another. Again command figures take center stage, lead among them General Mark Clark. What a fellow. This part of the book becomes enthralling. The slugfest and amount of human and physical destruction wrought by these two forces is unbelievable. All culminating in the seizure of Rome on June 5, 1944. This is one day before the Normandy landings and the final chapter in the destruction of the Third Reich. Hence the Italian campaign becomes postscript to the events leading up to Germany's surrender on May 8, 1945. We have lived with these men through the author's words and we know the sacrifices that they have made. This important part of the European theater of war during World War II should never be forgotten and must always be honored.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Daughter of a Texas Ranger-36th Division

Texas Ranger Division 36 142 Company D Infantry Regiment I bought this book to learn more about his experience in the war from 1943-1945. Few stories had been told only brief comments like I lost a lot of friends! He had enlisted and was sent to Texas from NY state...I learned a lot and can better put the pieces together of his reference to the "hill" and so many people lost ,not having clothing for the weather ! This book might help others like me that are trying to fill in brief stories they had heard. I know it was a help to me.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Jake Ballard

Very interesting go Giants and Springboro, OH

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Well written and interesting

This well rrsearched historical narrative documents in convincing detail one of the lesser known, albeit extremely important, campaigns of WW2 By all means read the book rather than listen to its tedious rendering on CD

The Forgotten Front - Italy in WWII

Long forgotten as a major front in WWII, except for Anzio, few know of the horrific battles fought in 1943-1944 in Italy. Mr. Anderson continues his outstanding scholarship and writing to brign home the details and actions from the landings in Sicily through the liberation of Rome. He is very balanced in his writing, detailing the strenghths and weaknesses of a full cast of commanders who, on both sides, had to deal with subordinates and political concerns as well as outright hostility among allies. What sets this work apart is how he has been able to relate the various actions to the overall campaign and how each influenced the other.
This is a must reading for any WWII reader and should be essential for any collection.

History of WWII in Sicily, Italy

Best well written account of invasion of Sicily and Italy by Allies - easy to read, fascinating!

The Day of Battle: Sicily?Italy

This book by Rick Atkinson about the battles of Sicily and Italy is greatly researched and the writing of the story is outstanding. He tells of the hardships and battles of the troops very touchingly. He also describes the harshness of the war and the hardships that the civilians also have. The losses of the soldiers is greatly brought out and when reading you can almost feel the bullets and other ordnance used coming out of the pages at you. The politicalloy minded officers and the way that they deal with the way they run the war is greatly exposed. It shows the brilliance of Patton in taking advantage of Montgomery's problems and :reconning in force: to the west part of Sicily, and taking Tripoli and then moving on and taking Messina before the British, by using bold end runs around the enemy and attacking from behind.

During the fight for Italy, he grealy details the allied push up the boot and the stubborness of the Italians around Namples. His desciption of the battle for Mount Cassion is sterling and he goes into great detail in the battle for this historic mission. He shows the ineptness of the commanders at Anzio and how their not pushing inland to attack the Germans cost a great many lives and prolonged the battle of Italy and the taking of Rome. I cant wait for the last book in the trilogy the Mr. Atkinson is to write to come out. This is an outstanding book as a follow up to "An Army at Dawn".

day of battle

rick atkinson did an outstanding job of research and then putting forth the story of the battle for sicily. his story of the landing of the US Army in sicily and how they were suppose to wet nurse montgomery is outstanding. knowing that patton would not play second fiddle to the british and how he was able to get what he wanted after montgomery took the highway away from bradley's corp was outstanding. many things that montgomery tried to keep the americans from doing backfired on him. it shouwed the great impetus that patton put in getting his forces to do the things that he wanted to do and showed his great generalship on the two end runs that he made behind the german lines just before the fall of messina.

Awesome

Rick Atkinson has done it again. This superb book provides an absorbing and very readable history of the American campaign in Italy during World War II. The pages and pages of citations in the back of the book are a testament to the research effort that he puts into his works. But instead of flooding us with detail, he selects items that provide a cross-section -- observations from Private to General -- that help the reader get a feel for and understand what was going on at that moment.

While there were many extraordinary Soldiers revealed in this work, the story of the US Army in Italy was also the story of LTG Mark Clark, the Fifth US Army Commander. Atkinson provies a very balanced view of his generalship because as it turns out, Clark is a leader that could easily be despised. While there is no doubt that the Fifth Army was successful, would there have been so many casualties without Clark's hubris? It is almost overwhelming at times to consider the losses that were suffered at the Rapido River and Cassinio.

I look forward to the final volume in Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy.

Jon, son of 34th Inf Div officer

I had to drag stories out of my father about the Italian campaign, including this one: as the 34th prepared their third crossing of the Rapido, one of my fathers officers said: 'Captain, I can't live through another crossing. Somebody shoot me a little so I can go the hospital.' My father was cleaning a captured Walther PP pistol. Playfully, my father pointed the gun at the guy and gently touched the trigger. There was bullet left in the chamber and it took off the guys left pinky finger. He missed the crossing, but indeed did die in the next battle. My father led his company across the river, and afterward checked himself into the field hospital for psychiatric care.

Epic and Awe-inspiring

Anticipating the arrival of Atkinson's second volume, I was not disappointed. His approach mixes the reactions of soldiers on both sides with those of their commanders. Yet he moves the narrative forward with maps and strategic overviews of battle. The marvel of it all is that it is so seamlessly done. A must read.

The Whole Bloody Campaign

Atkinson is a great chronicler of the Italian Campign. Too often a war history is reported in a victory or defeat attitude and not the bloody crime it is. No one dies for their country, their lives were taken from them. Great job Rick.

The Best!

If an Army at Dawn earned a Pulitzer Prize, this effort deserves three. By far the best book I have ever read on WWII.

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